After Manhattan
by 50-points-for-ravenclaw
Summary: One-shot: Tony and Pepper reunite in Stark Tower after the big battle and it seems both are little more bothered by recent events than they would like to admit


The elevator was moving too slowly. Everything was dark and suffocating, and she felt like she couldn't breathe. She didn't feel any better even when the doors opened, because all she saw was destruction. The floor was smashed in in certain spots and the tall glass windows shattered. Debris left over from the collapse of the big letters spelling out STARK lay scattered across the floor and in some cases imbedded in the walls. The whole scene had her gasping for air.

Pepper stepped into the room, her throat choking as it tried to gather oxygen but the whole thing was too overwhelming. Just a few nights ago she had sat in this very room with Tony, having a nice evening over champagne to celebrate the new clean energy power source he'd created from the arc reactor. It powered the tower she now stood in. But that seemed so long ago. She cared for Phil, she really did, but at the moment she hated him for involving Tony into this mess.

Stepping toward the 'open' window, a harsh breeze picked up her hair and threw it all around her face. Closing her eyes, the image came up almost immediately. The image of Tony flying into that portal with a missile on his back. The perplexed words of the reporter as she attempted to follow what was going on. And then he was falling, downward. He was falling so fast, showing no signs of slowing down and Pepper was yelling his name, praying for a miracle. She wasn't exactly sure what had happened. There were reports that the Hulk caught him but that did nothing to ease her mind.

Pepper had immediately ordered for the plane to be turned around. She needed to get back to New York, find out what was going on. She called Happy, but he had no clue either. She called the board and told them she would flying back to the city. She called Phil but she got no answer. Then she called Tony. It was only when she was clicking on his name that she saw she had one missed call. Her heart had stopped, and her breathe caught as she stared at the name. He _called _her. And she hadn't answered.

That had been when the tears took over, and she had sobbed despite fighting it with all she had. Anyone in the area had left immediately to let her deal with the stress on her own. She called him so many times she lost count but each time the call was rerouted to Stark Industries, meaning something had happened to his personal line.

The rest was a blur. All she remembered was waiting for anyone to contact her and tell her he was okay. That he was _alive_. She couldn't contact SHIELD, her only outlet being Coulson, and he wasn't answering. She didn't know of any other way to find him so she decided that the only thing to do was to go to the tower.

Pepper's eyes flew open, and she gasped just slightly, her eyes burning with nonexistent tears. She had already let them all go. Now her eyes stung with dryness and exhaustion. The moving air around her didn't help so she turned away from the hole to face the room again. It was then she noticed she was no longer alone.

She couldn't react at first; only stare. Tony stood in front of the closing elevator doors with a haphazard look in his eyes, as if he wasn't sure what to expect from her. She wasn't even sure how to react. At first she only felt relief, then sadness, then what seemed like completely unprecedented anger. Anger about the tower, what he had done, how he almost died, that he had called her and she hadn't answered. Anger at the entire situation.

As soon as Tony took one step forward, she was rushing toward him and throwing herself into his arms roughly. He grunted slightly at the action, but didn't protest, wrapping his arms around her waist tightly. Pepper could only cling to him, hoping with every fiber that this was real and not a dream, that Tony really was alive and standing in front of her. She needed it to be real.

Pulling away enough to look at him, she cupped his face with both hands, to feel him, to ensure he was the real thing. He held onto her wrists, lightly stroking them as he stared back at her with an intensity that she'd never seen from him before. It was unnerving and completely satisfying.

Then she punched him as hard as she could in the arm.

Tony yelped, stepping back and holding his newly bruised arm with a kicked puppy look on his face. Pepper didn't let it deter her though.

"How could you do that?" she ground out, her voice cracking. "How could you do something so stupid? You almost died. God, I thought you _were_ dead! And you didn't think to call me and tell me you were okay. Instead you leave me worrying for _hours_ with no idea what to do. I had no way of contacting you or SHIELD, except for Phil who wasn't answering."

Tony let her rant, knowing there was no stopping her and that he deserved everything she said. He deserved insults and nasty words, but all she could talk about was how worried she was and for some reason it upset him. Her voice held no real conviction, only a desperate tone.

"Technically I did call you," he mumbled, lacking the usual confidence behind his snarky remarks.

"About that…why would you call me when you were on your way to killing yourself?" Pepper started up again, but Tony couldn't even be upset at her words, because she sounded so worried, and she cared so god damn much. He felt guilty that she wasn't properly angry with him. He had no idea where this feeling was coming from. If anything, he was getting off easy. What he'd done _was_ reckless but he saved the world doing it.

"Pep," he said, interrupting. He was surprised when she cut off mid-sentence, thinking she wouldn't have heard him as he was barely talking above a whisper. "Pepper, be mad at me."

"What?" she asked, incredulously.

"All you're saying now is how worried you were. I need you to be mad at me," he said. "Please."

The last word struck Pepper. Tony never begged. No matter what the situation, he would find _any_ other way to get something he wanted than begging. It just wasn't him and with a life time of practice at charm and charisma, he didn't really need to. This meant things were different, at least for this moment. Tony was letting her see a very vulnerable side of him and wasn't even trying to cover it up.

"Tony," she whispered, watching his eyes drop to his hands that were clasped in front of him. He observed a bruise on one of his knuckles, almost as if he was waiting for something.

"Tony I can't be mad at you for saving the city…and the whole world," Pepper said quietly and he glanced up with a pained look that vanished in a split second. "I didn't like it, of course, but I knew when we started this thing about what you do every time you get in that suit and the implications it held."

She could see Tony's jaw ticking, from grinding his teeth, and knew he was having an internal battle, something he seemed to be doing a lot lately. He still refused to look up, keeping his eyes glued to his hands or the floor or anything below him.

"I'm a superhero's girlfriend. I'm supposed to constantly be worried and a total wreck all the time, remember?"

Tony smiled just slightly at the memory of what he had told Pepper just before informing the world that he, in fact, was Iron Man. He finally looked up at her and held out his hand. She took it immediately and let him embrace her, laying her head on his shoulder.

"I shouldn't have called you. That was…stupid, and I messed up. What would I have even said?" Tony mumbled the last part into her hair as he kissed Pepper's neck softly.

"Yeah it was stupid," Pepper answered, "but I would never have forgiven you if you hadn't."

Tony leaned back to look at her with one eyebrow raised in confusion. Pepper only smiled and pulled him back to her so that she could rest her head on his shoulder again, kissing some of the bruises dotted along his neck. He seemed to accept this, because he relaxed while tightening his arms around her waist.

"Just…" Pepper started, letting out a shaky sigh, "don't do that ever again."

Tony chuckled a little, breathy and almost nervous sounding but also as if a weight was being lifted from his shoulders. His shoulders slumped as he held Pepper closer. He leaned back just enough to press his forehead against hers, closing his eyes and just enjoying the feeling of her arms around him.

"I love you," he murmured without thinking and didn't realize the weight behind the words until Pepper shifted in his arms, pulling away just slightly. He opened his eyes to see her somewhat awed face and suddenly felt extremely anxious. Did he really just say that?

With raised eyebrows, Pepper kept her eyes trained on her boyfriend. She had never heard those words ever come from those lips. Sure he had told her she was gorgeous and wonderful and a life saver on numerous occasions but to openly tell her he loved her? A wave of jubilance rushed through her and she laughed lightly, pulling him in for a sweet kiss filled with the taste of dust and sweat and leftover tears. It was perfect.

"I love you, too," she finally responded against his lips.

"Good, I was a little nervous for a minute there. I mean you were laughing and there was no response…" Tony babbled.

"Tony."

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

"Yeah."

And they leaned in once more to kiss softly, and Pepper forgot all about the anger and fear and overwhelming sadness that she had been feeling before, because now she knew Tony was safe, and he wasn't going anywhere. She had him right in her arms, and she wasn't planning on letting him go anytime soon, superhero or not.

Iron Man may belong to the world but Tony Stark was all hers.

* * *

**AN:** This ended up turning out a little different than I thought but I think I like it. I was originally going to include the rest of the team and have Tony tell her about Coulson's death but I feel like that would have just been too much. Maybe I'll write a separate one-shot including those.

So I've been kinda wanting to do one of these after reading some interesting points-of-view about the big Pepperony reunion on here and after seeing Iron Man 3 (three times) I had a whole bunch of Pepperony feels and decided to go for it so here it if. I hope you guys enjoyed!


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